As the Israeli Prime Minister said, the Chinese city was one of a kind.

During the period when the Jewish people were being slaughtered, there was one place in the world that had "open borders", though not everybody knew it at the time.

quote:China RoadRob GiffordNPR Correspondent

p.21

more than twenty thousand European Jews escaped in the late 1930s because Shanghai - open, international Shanghai - was the only place in the world that didn't require them to have a visa.

Visa free does not exist today but it existed in 1 place during the 1930s.

quote:

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu salutes 'haven' of Shanghai

City's role in providing a sanctuary for Jews fleeing the Holocaust in second world war is a source of pride, says Netanyahu on official visit

Tuesday, 07 May, 2013

...."Seventy years ago, only Shanghai opened the door to provide a sanctuary to Jewish refugees," Netanyahu was quoted by Shanghai's Liberation Daily newspaper as saying. From the early 1930s, tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who fled Europe made Shanghai their home.

The much maligned "open borders" policy is very much attacked today (like it has been for the last 100 years), but we can look to history (for the precious few examples) see how it works for people verses the usual. More on the contrast with the typical "turn around right at the border" will come later in this post.

quote:For many European Jews during World War Two, Shanghai provided a safe haven. Former US Treasury Secretary and World War Two refugee, Michael Blumenthal can still recall the time his family fled to Shanghai.

W. Michael Blumenthal said, "We came to Shanghai only for one reason, because it was the only place in the world we can go at that time. We had to leave Germany very quickly, or we will die. Other countries did not want us in, but Shanghai is an open city."

During World War 2, Shanghai accommodated about 30,000 Jewish refugees from the Nazi Holocaust. Most of them lived in the city’s northeastern Hongkou District. Even now, many still live in the area.

quote:The second and highly complicated question was how to deal with the thousands of Jews from Germany or German-controlled areas who sought entry into the United States to escape the persecution. During 1933–1941 the basis of U.S. immigration policy rested on the National Origins Act of 1924. The 1924 Act established quotas of immigrants from all nations except for countries in the Western Hemisphere. Only 150,000 immigrants were allowed to enter the United States per year. Those who wished to emigrate had to obtain a visa from American consular officers in their respective countries. To do so applicants had to produce proof that they had sufficient assets of their own or provide guarantee of support from someone in the United States and provide passports, birth certificates, and police certificates. For Jewish refugees, many of the mandatory documents were difficult or impossible to obtain. In addition, with the Depression tightening around America, President Hoover in 1930 instructed American consuls to pass judgment carefully on each applicant to weed out those who were likely to become a public charge (dependent on social services of local governments). "Likely public charge" was referred to as LPC. Roosevelt allowed the Hoover LPC directive to stand for nearly four years until January 1937 when he ordered consuls to not operate under the idea of keeping visas to a minimum and to use probability, not mere possibility when enforcing the LPC clause.

The yearly immigration combined quota for Germany and Austria was 27,370. For the years 1933 through 1942 far fewer actually immigrated, amounting to only five percent of the quota in 1933, then increasing each of the following years to 65 percent of the quota in 1938 and finally one hundred percent in 1939. The percentage declined slightly to 95.3 percent in 1940 then plummeted to 17.4 percent by 1942. Actual immigration numbers varied from 1,450 individuals in 1933 to 27,370 in 1939. The total number of Jews admitted as immigrants from 1933 to 1943 was 168,128. Of these, 97,325 came to the United States from Germany.

During the nine years from 1933 to 1941 the immigration laws were not changed. Those in Congress in favor of liberalizing the laws for humanitarian reasons were thwarted by those who actually argued for more restrictive provisions. Those favoring more restrictive measures argued that with unemployment rampant there was no room for new immigrants. Neither side succeeded in changing existing law.

Roosevelt also declined to alter the immigration quotas for largely political reasons. Public opinion polls indicated that as late as December 1938, despite almost unanimous condemnation of Kristallnacht, 83 percent of Americans would oppose a bill allowing for the admission of more immigrants above current quotas.

The fact that the Jewish population dropped from 18 million down to 12 million (due to the United States of America sending the Jewish migrant's sea vessel away from the American shore back to Europe) should be enough to let us all say "never again" to the anti-immigration policies.

And on the $$$ issue. (which is all some people care about and - HINT - it isn't Jewish people despite the common slander)

Our economy would surely be much stronger today if the migrant refugees were allowed to live in our country as opposed to being sent away from the border and re-routed to the place that would bring them their certain deaths.

A hint to the evangelical "Christians" who let $$$ cloud judgment (and lets face it, there are enough prejudices to start with that cause judgment to be screwed up BEFORE THE ECONOMIC ISSUES AROUND IMMIGRATION GET TYPICALLY CONFUSED)

Why is "Open Border" policy such a dirty club to bludgeon pro-immigration folks with?

How is it that closed borders and tight immigration controls are seen as so virtuous?

I really want to know?

IMO, Sanctuary Cities should be seen as a great effort to keep the torch of the very human spirit aflame AND TO KEEP HOPE ALIVE. It is a fight for sound national economic policy and a declaration of support for the Constitution's "life, liberty , and the pursuit of happiness" endowment from the God (almost) everybody claims to worship.

To oppose Open Borders is to oppose the very values that come from every higher calling and higher purpose worth fighting for in existence.

To impose border controls and deportations is simply the ultimate act of mankind collectively acting like animals that will never be able to see(or sense) beyond the shortsighted predatory instincts that only enable short term survival (for the successful predator) but prevent long term prosperity and spiritual growth.

Oppressive borders that aren't vigorously challenged are quite simply the stuff of spiritual desolation and death of the soul.

They kill the human spirit and they leave a trail of dead souls that are seen as less valuable than earthworms and maggots.